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It’s almost February ! Join me in posting your exciting February (and Valentines) Hauls - it might be the shortest month but I’m sure our hauls won’t be the smallest!!!
Sephora Rouge Reward order:
Really a late January order, but it took me a while to unbox.Notes & swatches:
Spoiler
SEPHORA COLLECTION Dry Shampoo Brush Cleaner - I loved the previous formulation of this brush cleaner for my squirrel brushes and was sad when it disappeared from shelves and the site. Now it’s back and completely reformulated. The old version had sweet almond and safflower seed oils that helped condition my brushes. The only oil in the new version is sandalwood oil (eh, “extract”). But the new version should at least still get the between-washings* job done, since the new solvent is isododecane. (Old solvents were cyclopentasiloxane and cyclohexasiloxane.)
*I’ve never relied on any spray-on brush cleaner to thoroughly wash a brush. They’re just for use between true washings.
adwoa beauty Melonberry Hair Milk Leave-In Conditioner 6.8 oz / 200 mL
- been curious about this for a while. I’m already a fan of some products in the Baomint line (the leave-in conditioner, gel, and cream), but sometimes that scent annoys me, plus those products contain some ingredients my facial skin hates so I have to keep them and my hair off my face. Also, I wish the cream and gel were packaged in tubes instead of jars. Several Melonberry Hair Milk reviews complain about packaging and yeah, I don’t understand why this leave-in has a spray pump instead of a cream/lotion pump. It absolutely needs the latter, and I might try to swap the spray pump out if I can find a substitute that fits the bottle. I haven’t used this product on my hair yet, so jury’s still out on performance. It smells better (to me) than the Baomint stuff, though.
#PAT McGRATH LABS ChromaLuxe Artistry Pigment Star Wars™ Edition Smuggler’s Spice - the moment I saw swatches of this shade, I thought “aaah, I can finally get VR Rose Venus without having to buy Mothership VII” (one of the only two Motherships I intentionally don’t own) and planned to spend a rouge reward on it. The color shift is gorgeous in person. Yes, I know Clionadh, Sydney Grace, and others have near-dupes of VR Rose Venus. Heck, there’s one in Natasha Denona’s Bronze palette, but I’m not drawn enough to Bronze’s overall color story to buy it. 🤷♀️
#PAT McGRATH LABS Lunar New Year Collection: MatteTrance™ Lipstick Rouge 8 - as if I was really gonna resist this for long. The bullet embossing’s not as stunning as, say, a Catkin bullet, but it’s still very pretty. Eh, that’s not why I bought Rouge 8 anyway. The color reads more deep coral red than brick red on me, and that’s a good thing. (I love brick reds but have too many of ‘em, so having this one lean more coral red helps me justify owning it. Signed, a lipstick addict who seriously needs to declutter.)
Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Fenty Icon The Fill Semi-Matte Refillable Lipstick Frreak-Went-Flyer
- if not for Pat’s Rouge 8, I’d have also ordered Danger Danc’r. I’m so glad I kept this shade instead. Cannot describe how happy this particular red makes me. I’m sure I have dupes in my hoard but I’m not gonna swatch-compare to confirm, at least not yet. 😅 I hope Fenty brings some of their fun Mattemoiselle shades to the Icon line, perhaps as LE shades if they’re worried no one (but me) will buy blue, teal, green, orange, and black shades.
Samples - I usually forget to include Sephora samples in my photos, but the adorable mini tube of Dior Addict Lip Max demanded to be seen. I probably can’t even use that product; gotta check the INCI list again, but I’m pretty sure there’s capsaicin in this stuff. I love spicy chili peppers but I don’t want the burn on my lips all day—even if it’s a much milder burn than I’d use in my dishes. I’ll probably gift that DS away so someone else can enjoy the cute mini.
